Uttarakhand: Cabinet gives green signal to UCC draft, approval to table the bill in the Assembly, read possible provisions of the draft

The Dhami Cabinet has given green signal to the UCC draft to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) law in Uttarakhand. On February 6, the state government will present the UCC bill on the assembly table.

A cabinet meeting was held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami at the CM residence on Sunday evening. In which the UCC draft prepared by the committee of retired Supreme Court Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai was presented. After discussing the 740-page UCC report in four volumes, the Cabinet unanimously approved it. Also approved the preparation of UCC Bill and placing it on the table of the Assembly.

There are many provisions in the UCC draft like stopping polygamy, declaring live-in, giving equal inheritance rights to daughters, registering marriages, equally implementing the rule of one husband, one wife. Apart from Cabinet Ministers Satpal Maharaj, Premchand Aggarwal, Dr. Dhan Singh Rawat, Ganesh Joshi, Rekha Arya, Chief Secretary Radha Raturi, Additional Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan were also present in the meeting.

UCC will come on the ground after many decades

• In 1962, Jan Sangh talked about withdrawal of Hindu Marriage Act and Hindu Succession Bill. Jana Sangh then advocated for a uniform law for succession and adoption in 1967. The promise was repeated in 1971 also. However, there was no discussion on this issue in 1977 and 1980.
• BJP was formed in 1980. Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the first national president of BJP. The party contested elections for the first time in 1984, winning only two seats.
• 9th Lok Sabha elections were held in 1989, in which BJP included Ram Mandir, Uniform Civil Code in its election manifesto. The number of seats of the party increased to 85.
• In 1991, the 10th mid-term elections were held in the country. This time BJP got more benefits. Its number of seats increased to beyond 100. In these Lok Sabha elections, BJP strongly raised the issues of Uniform Civil Code, Ram Temple, Section 370. All these issues were included in the election manifesto of BJP, but due to numerical strength they could not be completed.
• After this, in 1996, BJP formed the government for 13 days. In 1998, the party ran the government for 13 months. In 1999, BJP along with its allies formed the government with majority. Then Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the Prime Minister.
• For the first time in the year 2014, BJP came to power with a huge majority and Modi government came to power at the centre. Modi government started working on its election promises with full vigor. Now the Central Government is working towards implementing the Uniform Civil Code. In this context, Uttarakhand is moving towards becoming the first state in the country to implement UCC.
• In Uttarakhand, in 2022, BJP had kept the issue of UCC paramount and had promised that work would be done on it as soon as the government is formed. Dhami government formed a committee for UCC. Who prepared the draft of UCC in one and a half years. Now the special session of the Assembly is going to start from February 5, after passing which, Uttarakhand will become the first state in the country to implement UCC.

These are the possible provisions of the draft

1- The marriage age of girls will be increased, so that they can graduate before marriage.
2- Marriage registration will be mandatory. Without registration, you will not get the benefit of any government facility. There will be facility for marriage registration at village level also.
3- Equal grounds for divorce will be available to both husband and wife. The same grounds of divorce which are applicable for the husband will also be applicable for the wife. At present, under personal law, husband and wife have different grounds for divorce.
4- Polygamy or polygamy will be banned.
5- Girls will get equal share in inheritance as boys. Till now, according to personal law, the share of the boy is more than that of the girl.
6- The compensation given to the wife on the death of her employed son will also include the responsibility of maintaining the elderly parents. If the wife remarries, her parents will also have a share in the compensation received on the husband’s death.
7- Maintenance: If the wife dies and her parents have no support, then the responsibility of their maintenance will be on the husband.
8- Adoption: Everyone will get the right to adopt. Muslim women will also get the right to adopt, the process of adoption will be made easier.
9- There will be a ban on Halala and Iddat.
10- Declaration of live in relationship will be necessary. This will be like a self-declaration which may have a statutory format.
11- Guardianship: In case the child is orphaned, the process of guardianship will be simplified.
12- In case of quarrel between husband and wife, the custody of children can be given to their grandparents.
13- Population control has not been included yet.